Legislature approves county's new DMV fees

Oneida County will begin collecting new Department of Motor Vehicles fees this spring after the county Legislature approved them 18-5 at Wednesday’s meeting.

Courtney Potts

Oneida County will begin collecting new Department of Motor Vehicles fees this spring after the county Legislature approved them 18-5 at Wednesday’s meeting.

The new law imposes an annual registration fee of $5 for most non-commercial vehicles and $10 for commercial vehicles or those weighing more than 3,500 pounds. The fees are expected to contribute $1.2 million to the county’s highway fund in 2010.

County Executive Anthony Picente said he was not surprised by the outcome of the vote.

“The budget passed and that was part of the budget,” he said. “It’s more of a formality today to move the local law. Really, the decision was made a couple of weeks ago when the budget was approved.”

Four legislators voted against the overall budget Nov. 12, and three of them – Minority Leader Michael Hennessy, D-Sherrill; Frank Tallarino, D-Rome; and Martin Kernan, D-Oriskany – also voted against the DMV fees Wednesday. The fourth, Edward Stephenson, D-Waterville, was absent for health reasons.

Those individuals were joined in their dissent by fellow Democrats Joseph Furgol and Peter Caruso, both representing Utica.

Furgol later said he knew his ballot would not change the outcome of the vote, but that he wanted to go on the record as supporting taxpayers.

“I figured the taxpayers have got enough fees. … There’s no end to them,” he said, adding that the topic was discussed in a Democratic caucus prior to the main Legislature meeting at 2 p.m.

Furgol said he would have liked to see more cuts in the budget instead of new fees, and also disagreed with passing costs on to drivers specifically instead of the general population.

While Picente referred to Wednesday’s vote as “a formality,” he acknowledged that budget issues do not always resolve so easily. Last year, for example, debate over whether the county should stop sharing its Off-track Betting revenue with local municipalities began during budget season and continued into mid-February.

And delays have consequences: The DMV fees were tabled by a committee temporarily earlier this fall and that delayed resulted in the expected start date changing from Jan. 1 to April 1.

Picente said that could decrease the projected $1.2 million in revenue calculated into the 2010 budget.

“We based our revenues on very conservative estimates, so we’re hopeful it doesn’t,” he said. “It will remain to be seen.”